Nunavut mineral exploration set to rise slightly in 2015: NRCAN

Despite a small increase ahead for 2015, mineral exploration expenditures in Nunavut have dropped in real terms over the past three years – and the total share of the Canadian exploration expenditures has also dropped as this graph distributed by the NWT and Nunavut Chamber of Mines shows.

After nosediving in 2013 and again in 2014, the amount of money that mining and mineral exploration companies plan to spend in Nunavut is set to rise in 2015.

That’s according to the latest exploration look-ahead on exploration spending from 2010 to 2015, compiled by Natural Resources Canada and released March 9.

The information for Nunavut shows that spending dropped from $422.5 million in 2012 to $257.6 million in 2013. The spending drop continued in 2014, ending up with a total expenditure of only $144.6 million.

In 2015, that figure is set rise to $174.3 million — yet that’s still far below spending in 2011, which came in at a record $535.7 million.

The bulk of the money to be spent in 2015 will come from senior mining companies, not junior mining companies hoping to develop a strong find in Nunavut.

However, the forecast expenditures for exploration in 2015 are still set to surpass those of the Northwest Territories, where only $43.6 million is slated to be spent on exploration in 2015.

Nunavut’s share of total Canadian mineral exploration investment remains lower. It’s fallen from 12.7 per cent in 2011 to nine per cent in 2015.

Meanwhile, commodities prices are tumbling, providing no incentive to companies to explore or expand. Iron stood at $62 per ton at the end of this past February, down from more than $92 per ton in August 2014.

And gold has fallen from $1,380.99 last year to $1,142.47 on March 10.